Accidental damage of art

Accidental damage of art refers to damage or destruction of an artwork as a result of various types of accidents, such as natural disasters, fire, plane crash, a fall and others. Most notable damage accidents occurred during a public exhibit or transportation.

A large body of work by the German renaissance master Mathis Nithart Gothart, called Grünewald, was captured by the Swedes during the Thirty Years' War, but lost when the ships transporting war booty were sunk in the Baltic by Imperial forces.

On 2 September 1998, Swissair Flight 111 crashed near Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, killing 229 people. Pablo Picasso's 1963 work Le Peintre (The Painter) was part of the flight's cargo and was destroyed in the crash.

In October 2006, business magnate Steve Wynn agreed to sell the 1932 painting Le Rêve by Picasso. The painting was the centerpiece of Wynn's art collection and was displayed at his Las Vegas casino. The arranged price of $139 million would make Le Rêve the most expensive art sale of the time. The day after the price deal, while showing the painting to reporters, Wynn accidentally elbowed it, creating a significant tear. After a $90,000 repair, the painting was evaluated to be worth $85 million. Wynn claimed the price difference from his Lloyd's of London insurers, and the case was eventually settled out of court in March 2007. In March 2013, Wynn sold the repaired painting to the original buyer Steven A. Cohen for $155 million, a price approximately $5 million lower than the inflation-adjusted value ($160 million in 2013 USD) of the painting before the accident.

In 2006, a man fell after stepping on his loose shoelace at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England and shattered three Chinese vases of the Qing dynasty (17th century). The man was not injured and not charged with damage, but was banned from visiting the museum. The museum managed to restore the vases, which are one of its most valuable exhibits; they are back on display, but in a protective case.

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